House-to-house survey urged to weed out bogus ration cards

The Forum for Good Governance (FGG), a non-profit civil society organization, has commended Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for initiating a consultation process to establish eligibility criteria for the issuance of new ration cards.
However in a statement, FGG president M Padmanabha Reddy shared several suggestions regarding the matter and asked the Civil Supplies Department to conduct intensive house-to-house survey to eliminate bogus ration cards.
Padmanabha Reddy said, “According to the Minister’s briefing, there are approximately 90 lakh ration cards in Telangana, covering 2.84 crore people issued by both the Union and State governments. Telangana’s population is estimated to be around 4 crore, with 3.74 per cent classified as multi-dimensionally poor, according to a NITI Aayog report. Additionally, about 20 per cent of the population falls under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. This means that only 80 lakh people or 20 per cent of the population are eligible for food security through the Public Distribution System (PDS).
 Reddy pointed out that nearly 2 crore ineligible individuals currently possess ration cards, resulting in a leakage of approximately Rs 600 crore per month, as these people draw 12 crore kilograms of rice under the scheme. He called for an intensive house-to-house survey to eliminate bogus ration cards.
 The previous government was criticised for issuing ration cards to 75 per cent of the State’s population, allegedly for political gains. The FGG urged the present government to restrict ration cards to BPL families and provide additional support, such as 1 kg of dhal and 1 liter of cooking oil, alongside free rice.
 The FGG welcomed the Minister’s statement that fine-quality rice will be distributed via PDS starting January 2025, but emphasised the urgent need to weed out ineligible ration cardholders before introducing smart cards.